Night Calls the Raven (Book 2 of The Master of the Tane) (65 page)

Without argument, the small group broke into a run gaining fifty yards before the hole spewed out the filth that had given them chase. Thane held back, while the others pushed ahead, keeping his eye on the black and gray dragons as the black circled around again. The
townspeople had finally made it to cover but the dragon had spotted them and was dropping down fast, eager to pick them off.

From the hole the enemy also poured emitting at least a hundred orcs and trolls along with a few wolgs. Concentrating on the dragon, Thane called the air to him as he had done before, swirling it above his head in a cyclone of fury he shot it at the dragon just as it was about to make its attack. This time his aim was not as sure and he merely clipped it pushing it off course. It was enough. The dragon broke off it attack leaving them untouched—for the moment. Another hundred yards and they would make it to the trees.

Stopping, he turned his attention to the hole from whence they’d come. There were too many following for the defenders to fight off by themselves. They needed help and he knew just where to find it. Driving his senses forward he shot them into the mud embracing the voices that converged on him like water in a cool lake. As before, he felt the pull of the earth sucking him in, begging him to stay, covering him with its promises of eternity. At first he was surprised at how strong the pull had been, almost losing himself to its demands before finally fighting it back enough to regain a sense of self. No. He had something to do. He was the earth child. He would ask and they would answer. He started forming the need in his mind, calling forth the desires in his heart but suddenly felt ripped from the dirt. No longer were his senses attached through his TehChao Tane to the ground but instead were now drifting uselessly in the air. Coming back to himself, he became aware of the ground falling away and the tight squeeze of talons gripping him about his chest.
The gray dragon
.

He had not been watching for it thinking it out of the battle with it circling lazily overhead. Grabbing one of its talons, he held on tightly as they continued to gain altitude. The dragon fear was stifling, gripping his heart with a vice-like terror that almost made him let go and wish to fall
to his death just to escape. Suddenly, the claws did open but he held on. For a moment the dragon hesitated not sure as to why its cargo was not falling to its death. Screeching, it shook its leg trying to jar him loose but Thane’s grip was sure. Howling its frustration, it dropped its head and shot toward the ground. Thane held on as tightly as he could but his grip started loosening against the blasting wind.

It was no use. He couldn’t hold on much longer. A hand slipped free jerking the other away and he found himself suddenly airborne, tumbling in a headlong rush towards the ground. He tried to call the wind trying to force it around him in an attempt to buoy him up but he couldn’t hold his concentration. He closed his eyes trying to regain some sense of calm so he might reach out to the wind when suddenly he hit something soft and felt a hand latch onto his arm.

“Are you alright?” a young voice called.

Thane opened his eyes to find he was on the back of a giant bird with a young blond haired boy holding onto his wrist. “Where did you come from?”

“Get up here and hold on,” the boy called pulling him forward. “Tchee is going to chase this one away.”

Thane scanned the sky suddenly overcome by a sense of doom. Turning his head he saw the black dragon coming up behind them as the boy maneuvered his bird down toward the gray.

“Watch out behind you!” he shouted just as the bird dropped onto gray dragon’s back. Thane felt his stomach heave at the sudden motion and then found himself tumbling backwards grabbing at feathers but to no avail as he fell free of the bird. With a thud, he landed hard onto the gray dragon just below its shoulder blades. The white bird twisted around, just barely escaping the black dragon’s talons before shooting away, out of reach.

Thane felt
himself sliding and quickly reached out for a handhold latching onto one of the massive spines growing off the dragon’s back. A shudder shot through him as he realized that had he not landed where he had, he very likely would have been impaled. The gray dragon screeched, feeling his weight but doing nothing to try and dislodge him knowing its scales protected it from any weapon he might possess.

Banking left it took Thane for a sweeping look of the battlefield before changing its course and chasing after the people now huddle amongst the trees. Swooping low it dropped to mere feet above the ground shooting toward Haykon’s refugees. Thane knew what it planned. With its ability to fire missiles of compacted air, the trees would be no protection against a head on assault. He had to do something. He thought of using the QenChe Tane and incinerating it even though that would mean his own death, but instinctively knew he wouldn’t be able to while he was still touching it. His next thought was to call the wind into a vortex but didn’t think he could hit the dragon right while perched on its back and moving. He was frantic. He had to do something. He was almost out of time. His friends were mixed in with the people seeking shelter in those trees and he knew that a blast from the dragon would kill them all.

Gelfin’s words suddenly slipped into his thoughts as he feverishly searched for some clue as to what to do.
It is easier to pull water than fire
. “Pull water. Pull water. But how?” Placing a hand on the dragons back he reached for a connection; something, anything that felt like water. If he was going to pull it out, he needed a connection with it. He needed to communicate with it so he could get it to come out.

There was no time; in moments the dragon would reach the trees. Closing his eyes against the horror of the situation, he reached down, searching, feeling,
delving for anything that joined him to the dragon’s body water.

He could feel it taking in breath preparing to unleash its ravenous force. His time was up. Pressing harder he thought he found something but it slipped away. The dragon suddenly slowed. It was stopping. It was going to land. Of course, it couldn’t use its wind power effectively unless it was down at their level. It had to land first so it could reach the people in the trees instead of shooting over their heads.

Thane pushed the thoughts aside. He had to concentrate. He had to make this work. Delving deeper, he felt the dragon touch down and then rear back its head to unleash its destructive power. That’s when he felt it. He was suddenly connected. He could feel the water flowing through the dragon’s body mixed with its blood and its tissues. It connected with him as if suddenly hearing his call, drawn to his Tane. One simple request was all it took.
Hahni Eyup Ney
. “Come to me.”

In a rush the water in the dragon’s body gathered to Thane’s call erupting through its skin and shooting out from its scales in a sudden explosion of fluid. Thane was immediately covered in water as the dragon drop, its body instantaneously shriveled and dried into a leathery carcass. Opening his eyes he slipped from its back, his hand still holding the spike that had suddenly broken off along with all the scales that had once protected its massive body in armor.

No longer stood the terrible, gray dragon that shot air with a force to annihilate. No longer did it radiate a suffocating fear to shrink the mightiest in its presence. No longer could it harm the people who had seen their death in its eyes and still trembled just feet away from him. All that remained now was a pile of dark scales and withered skin.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Jne rushed forward and was quickly followed by a group of thirty soldiers led by Braxton and the prince. Jace, of course, was at Ranse’s side while Jack, Dor and Tam raced after Jne as she approached Thane.

“Are you well?” she almost shouted, her voice slightly trembling with concern.

Thane pushed away from the pile of scales trying to gain his feet, accepting Jne’s hand of support. “I’m fine, I think.” Testing his legs, he was amazed to find that he was still quite himself and that what he’d done required almost no effort; just as Gelfin had promised. The sound of battle turned him about as his friends reached his side. Brushing off their questions of concern and amazement, he pointed to the soldiers engaging the enemy that had erupted from the king’s road. “Later,” he breathed, “the day is still not won.” Pulling his swords, he rushed forward, quickly followed by the others.

The soldiers were fighting desperately, outnumbered by almost three to one. Thane threw himself into the fray, cutting down a goblin as it was poised for a killing attack. Looking quickly to the sky he searched for the black dragon but couldn’t find it before having to redirect his attention back to a troll that was swinging its club at his head. Though he had taken down the gray, he had little hope of doing the same with the black should it attack. With the power of its destructive breath, he might not have a choice but to use the QenChe Tane and pull fire from it; no matter what the personal cost.

Dor and Tam stood beside him, their swords swinging around at the enemy each taking down their foe and then looking for another. Sidestepping a swinging club, Thane buried a sword into a goblin’s belly while taking the head of another that was pressing down on Tam.

Stepping away from the battle, he again scanned the skies, certain the black dragon would return any moment to finish them. A loud thwack followed by a cut off yelp returned his attention to the battle only to find a black wolg dropped to the ground just behind him. A small man, not much larger than a boy, but much huskier and dressed in black armor, pulled a lethal looking axe from the wolg’s skull.

“Best be keepin’ yer eyes to the battle, laddie,” the little man said to him with a wink. “This one nearly had yer head.”

Thane only nodded, not knowing with what type of creature he was conversing and from where it had come. It was then he noticed a group of about ten had joined the fight and were quickly turning the battle into a route for their side. He watched as goblins and trolls dropped, taken out by the little men and the remaining soldiers. A loud screech overhead brought his eyes up but the sound had not come from the black dragon. A large, white bird passed over the battlefield and then dropped down toward the fray. Thane watched in amazement as the young boy who had saved him from his fall blew a dart from a stick he put to his mouth taking a wolg in the eye that had downed a soldier and was about to rip out his throat.

Jack was suddenly at his side, wiping his blade clean on the wolg at Thane’s feet before returning it to its scabbard. “Lucky those dwarfs showed up when they did. The battle had become hard pressed.”

Thane looked at his friend. “Dwarfs?”

Jack pointed to one of the black clad little men. Thane just nodded.
“And what of the other dragon? Did you see it?”

Jack smiled. “I saw it fly away as fast as its wings could carry it with that Roc dropping down on it the whole way.”

“The huge bird that saved me?”

Suddenly, Jne and Tam were at his side as the other soldiers quickly dispatched the remaining enemy. “Thane,” Tam’s voice interrupted, “
are you well?”

Looking at her, he smiled.
“Yes, and you?”

She grinned slightly, brushing back her hair with the back of her hand that still gripped a blood covered sword. “I finally got to thank one of the trolls for their hospitality though I can’t say that I feel much better yet. I imagine it will take quite a few more of them before the debt has been paid in full.”

Thane nodded grimly. He had been concerned about how she would fare in battle, with her recent break from
dranlok
addiction and never having really faced an enemy up close before. He could see the nervous energy still coursing through her by the slight tremor in her hands but that was to be expected. She’d proven herself not only to him but also, more importantly, to herself.